Meridian Hill Park is one of 24 regional sites vying for a piece of $1 million in preservation funds. (Stu Lillard/For The Washington Post)

What do you get when you combine historic preservation with “American Idol”? It’s Partners in Preservation, a joint venture of American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation wherein AmEx puts up $1 million, the Trust identifies worthy “shovel-ready” projects, and the public votes on which ones are most deserving of funding. The program has been active for eight years, Jonathan O’Connell reports in Capital Business, but this is its first go-round in Washington. Online voting continues through Friday, with 24 sites across the region competing for as much as $100,000 each. In the District, the contenders include the earthquake-damaged Washington National Cathedral, the All Souls Unitarian Church bell tower, stained glass windows at Metropolitan AME and the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, Congressional Cemetery’s mausoleum row and the grotto at Meridian Hill Park.

In other news:

Abigail Maslin on her husband’s savage beating: “The justice we seek far surpasses the scope of the courtroom” (Post op-ed)

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.

To pause and restart automatic updates, click "Live" or "Paused". If paused, you'll be notified of the number of additional comments that have come in.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.